To the tree, the bells
by Michi-Dae
Summary: Life's a tragedy, and then, it starts all over again. To wish for the greatness, for the power. Can Suzuki Ume achieve her ambitions and find on her second life, what she lost without even achieving on her first? "The weak fall, but the strong will remain and never go under!"


_''To sing the perfect song,_  
_And by a half-tone lose the key,_  
_There the potent sorrow, there the grief,_  
_The pale, sad staring of Life's Tragedy.''_

_Paul Laurence Dunbar_

Sometimes life likes to play games. No, let me rephrase it.

Sometimes, life acts like a _bitch._

I died. I accepted the fact that all I had ever accomplished was useless, meaningless, when I lost my life. No, scratch that. When MY LIFE was taken from me. But, I had a honorable death, I am happy to say, I died giving my life for a good cause.

It was a peaceful Saturday and I decided to walk in the park, the sun was warm on my skin, and on the other side of the stream the kids were playing near the forest, there was no adults around, mind you, and it made me remember that my parents **never** left me alone when I was their age, sure, they were laughing and doing things that kids were supposed to do, but even still, I had a bad feeling, and quickly I said a little pray to the kids. Nowadays, we never know when something bad can happen. That note was going to bite me in the ass later. Brushing aside my worries, I stopped to buy something to eat, thinking about my currently state of life.

I was happy, my life was working out, and I had graduated from hell's-hole, to Hell's-Freaking-Future-Door. Yep, I was going to a university, I had earned my own little house, doing small things like translating documents, hack systems aka hack/stalk- for-coughsomeonecoughgirls, sell test answers, among other not-so-legal _ahem!_ Activies. Beggars can't be choosers. Goddamit! I had hacked the Japanese System of Security _and _got away with it. It means something! It's like winning the Nobel Prize privately. Of course, I never told anyone, because as much as I am happy with my achievements, I was sane, I mean, you just don't tell your _mom_ you committed a crime. Knowing mine, she'd take me to the police station. So, as you can guess, my extra-activities were always kept quietly. It's not my fault their cybersecurity sucks. They're supposed to be the best, if they can be broken by a 17 years old girl, what does that mean to our country? We could be attacked at any moment. I became paranoid after hacking _them_, I even planned me and my family escape-rote, straight out of the country. Nevertheless, it was a good, nice, and peaceful day. But then… something happened.

One of the kids started to scream, it was not the normal I-am-hurt, or I-am-faking-crying scream, it was a_ horrified_ scream, alarmed, my maternal instinct kicked in, and I just knew I had to go to the kids. So, I ran as fast as I could, passing through the bridge like a thunder. The kids were panicking, as efficiently as I could, I hushed them, and when they stopped crying I asked what the problem was. To my absolutely horror, they told me, one of the kids was taken by a man. It was a ittle girl, her name was Aki, she liked dolls, she was seven years old, and had a bright future ahead of her. The man told her he had a dolls house, she refused to go but he took her by force.

My mind quickly warned me, and before I could stop myself, news I didn't pay attention started to go through my head, like electrostatic.

* * *

_The police is trying to find the seventh victim of the Kids-maniac that has been around lately, the last victim was taken from a open place, a carnival park, in the middle of the day, and her body was found on a landfill a week later. According to the legists, she suffered from sexual and physical abuses that together, contributed to her death. The authorities are doing their best to find the kids-maniac but to no avail, the population is scared, and the Mayor declared…_

_According to the kids interrogated, he was a handsome man, on his late twenties, nice, polite. Black eyes, brown hair, and a pretty smile. Proving that appearances, can be deceiving,_

_I just want my kid back, please, I'll do anything…give me her back!_

_What kind of monster does that to a seven years old kid?_

_I'd make a deal with the devil to get my son back._

_I just wish… he died. If I could see he now, I'd kill him._

* * *

Something inside me snapped. And without a second thought I ran inside the forest, I was not going to let a seven years old kid die when I could do something, and do something I would. The adrenaline kicked in, and I was shaking from fear and rage. That kid- Mary! I would save her, take her by the hand and lecture her mother- and the other kids parents- about how to take care of a kid properly. And they _would_ listen. The ground was unleveled, the forest was full of exposed roots that constantly worked together to slow me down. I didn't scream her name, no, that would just make the monster run faster. I needed to lull him in a false sense of security and from there I would work. I ran as quietly as I could. Using all the stamina my body had acquired from my martial arts lessons, barely noticing the scratches my body was suffering when hit by logs, random branches, and sharp leaves. I had run a good half hour non-stop and my body was hot and sticky, I was out of breath and half limping, I was almost sure I had twisted my ankle, I stopped suddenly when I heard voices. Approximately twenty meters ahead of me, a kid cried.

–NO! I WANT MY MOMMY! Where is my-mmmhp! – The girl- Mary, was being forced into the ground, it looked like a shelter under the earth, the open-gate was hide, and it was almost impossible to notice, she was shoved inside it, but she fought, and was award with a kick in the face that made she fall without support inside the shelter, she cried, and the man, he was tall, went inside quickly, his back was turned to me, thinking quickly I ran before he could completely close the gate and grabbing the first thing, that happened to be a log, I put it inside the gate, making him unable to close the gate, no matter how hard he pulled the gate, at that moment I was not afraid, I was angry, so angry, I didn't care about the consequences of my actions, he was going down one way or another. The sound of glass shattering and a curse broke through the ground.

Giving up, he pushed the gate at once, my already twisted ankle was trapped, it was too heavy for me to lift, and his head pocked outside the open round gate, with my butt on the ground I was hardly a treat to a man, heavier, and taller than me. He gave me a awful, disgusting smile, without think I throwed my body ahead and took a good chunk of his hair on my hands, pulling it hard enough to make him lose his balance and hit his head on the opening of the gate. He cursed and blood flew out of his head. It was a small cut but, was I ever glad. My momentum of happiness was brushed aside as a fly when his hand hit my face hard enough to make my vision go black for a second or two, he got out of the shelter quickly and pure fear made me pothole using my only health leg, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the kid start crawling out of the gate, her face was a ugly angry red, swelling. Holding his leg before he could get up I used all my strength to scream at the kid. Scream is a good motivator, it snap people out of the shock.

GO! NOW! RUN AND DON'T LOOK BACK! TELL PEOPLE WHERE WE ARE! GO! DON'T STO– I was cut by a foot in the face, but it worked, the girl started to run like no tomorrow, she'd make it safely, me? It was other case, now I just had to hold him for at least twenty minutes.

His foot meet my face one more time. And this time, I used my willpower to hold him still, as quickly as I could I pulled my abused ankle under the gate and throwed myself on him, biting his throat, where I knew his carotid artery was, hoping to pierce it, the blood loss would make him slow, I felt my teeth go through his skin, and then his meat, the hot scalding blood left a iron like taste on my taste buds, he cried and tried to lift me, but I was well wrapped around him. I used my legs to hold him by the waist, and wrapped my arms on his head, so he wouldn't be able to see me. He started to punch me, really hard, the chunk I had bite gave up, and I almost swallowed it. I spit it on the ground, and I was about to bite again when I felt a blinding pain on my stomach, it strong enough to make me lose my grip on him, he took the chance and reverted the situation, he used his free hand to lift my both hands and use it as a handcuff, I was pinched to the ground, the pain was getting stronger, and I felt something hot on me, and I noticed, it was my blood, he was holding a knife big enough to go straight through me. He cursed above me, and I could do nothing as the reality of what was going to happen, struck me. I was going to die, in the middle of a forest without anyone to go to my rescue. Fear made me try to fight, a smirk surged on his lips. His face, his shirt, was covered in blood, and the thing wouldn't stop leaking from his neck.

Oh no! You won't get away you bitch! You took my play thing, now you will have to do. Let's see how you like it. – His words made me stop fighting, my eyes widened and I knew what was about to happen, he didn't even bother to make me stand up. He dragged me by my feet and a yelp left my mouth. I was making a half dying, half choking sound, I wanted to scream, to curse, but the words failed me, no one would hear, and the girl was still running she had to get away. If I scream, she'd stop running, I couldn't risk that, using my nails I tried to craw away, but when my legs were inside the shelter, I knew I was done. That was the end, so I let go. As ashamed as I am to say this, I stopped fighting, because I knew it was pointless, he knew it was pointless. I would let him do whatever he wanted to do with me, I noticed. It made me feel like a coward, my bravado forgotten, the only chance I had was to kill him while he was distracted enough. My body fell with a thump on the ground, and without a second, he started to strip me, he tore my blouse exposing my black simple bra, my skirt was tore too, and the horror of the situation brought tears to my face and I cried, gritting my teeth, he was talking and hitting me, and I hated how helpless I was, I wanted to kill him, _god have I ever wanted something_… I wanted to make him suffer. And then, the pain came, as I was assaulted again and again by his … his knife was going through my skin and the pain –_ohgodthepaintheshamethehate- _everything was so overwhelming, memories of my childhood went and came from my memory, my parents, they'd be so hurt, my dreams would never be true, the things I held dear, the people I held dear, I would never see them again. _'I wish I had the power to crush him and all of those like him under my hands, I wish I never had to feel so..so… helpless like this'_ Hate swept me from the ground, and I knew that if I was going to die, he'd come with me, my eyes searched for something, anything to hurt him with, and I found it, I smiled, he'd never hurt anyone again, he was close to come, and the pain was greater to me, my first time and my last time, _'how fitting, we'd both have our last time together' _I thought bitterly. And as he came, his hand rose to give the last strike. I felt so violated that just like that, the glass on my hand entered his neck with such force that it went through the other side, a smile on my face, was my last memory, his knife went right through my heart. And we both died.

* * *

Or that was what was supposed to happen. I hope he died, because I am certainly **not dead.**

Have heavens heard me and decided to take pity on me on my last moment? If they did, it was meant as a joke.

That's the only reason I was born again, and this time, I had a feeling I should had died quietly without making silly wishes about power and _shit_ because I just got named.

I am Ume Suzuki (The one devoted to the bells' of the tree), by two people I had never seen in my life. One of them, wearing a hitai-ate, that as my past life reminds me, means Village Hidden by Tree Leave, Konohagakure. I was in a ninja world- _holyshit!_


End file.
